Hot Jupiter ‘Companions’ could shed light on planet formation.

Posted on November 27, 2015 by adminedit

The discovery of two exoplanet "companions" provides insight into the hot Jupiter solar system, discovered from data collected by the K2 mission. Out of the some 300 hot Jupiters that have been spotted over the past two decades, these new objects are the first close-in planets to be discovered. Discovery of two close-in planet companions sheds new light on planet formation. For the past 20 years, astronomers peered into the night sky, puzzled about a type of planet called hot Jupiters. As they a...

Solar-Powered umbrella automatically inflates when the sun shines.

Posted on November 25, 2015 by adminedit

The Cumulus Parasol is a solar powered cloud-shaped parasol that automatically inflates when the sun starts shining to keep you in the shade. This artificial cumulus protects you from the sun. Whenever the sun comes out, this parasol inflates automatically in about 20 seconds to a cloud like shape using a solar panel at the top. The inflated Cumulus has a diameter of two meters. The cloud does not have a metal core structure. The curved shape of the inflated cloud is aerodynamic, allowing it ...

Lasers could rapidly make materials hotter than the Sun.

Posted on November 23, 2015 by adminedit

Lasers could heat materials to temperatures hotter than the centre of the Sun in only 20 quadrillionths of a second, according to new research that could revolutionise energy production. Physicists from Imperial College London have devised an extremely rapid heating mechanism that they believe could heat certain materials to ten million degrees in much less than a million millionth of a second. The method, proposed for the first time, could be relevant to new avenues of research in thermonuclear...

Using Holography to better understand clouds.

Posted on November 21, 2015 by adminedit

Scientists have just made a breakthrough in understanding how clouds interact with the surrounding air by studying clouds in unprecedented detail. Raymond Shaw, a professor of physics at Michigan Tech, looks at the smallest part of clouds, droplets. To understand groups of droplets, Shaw and the NCAR team flew airplanes through fluffy, cottonball cumulus clouds in Wyoming and Colorado. Aboard the plane, the team took detailed 3-D images with an instrument called the Holographic Detector for Clou...

Neutrinos scoop the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics

Posted on October 20, 2015 by adminedit

Neutrinos have the smallest mass of any known particle, and are created in several ways, including during radioactive decay, directly in the Sun’s core, and when cosmic rays from the Sun hit the Earth’s atmosphere. Thousands of billions of neutrinos are streaming through our bodies each second. The prize has been awarded to two physicists who discovered a strange property of neutrinos, which Imperial scientists are still unravelling today. Today’s physics laureates, Professor Arthur B. McDona...

A new sunblock that does not penetrate the skin

Posted on October 6, 2015 by adminedit

Researchers at Yale have developed a sunscreen made with bioadhesive nanoparticles that is not only waterproof, but does not penetrate the skin barrier, eliminating the health concerns associated with commercial sunscreens. While sunblocks are good at preventing sunburn and decreasing the risk of skin cancer from sun exposure, nanoparticles designed to reflect or absorb cancer-causing ultraviolet light, can go below the skin’s surface and enter the bloodstream. As a result, they pose possible...

Harvard Scientists Make Solar Power Production More Efficient

Posted on October 1, 2015 by adminedit

Solar power could be increased tenfold without additional storage in the near future. A team of Harvard scientists and engineers demonstrated a rechargeable battery that could make storing electricity from intermittently available energy sources, like sun and wind which is safe and cost-effective for both residential and commercial use. Much of the nation’s energy policy is premised on the assumption that clean, renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, will require huge quantities o...